Automated, continuous-motion systems for handling products often require an apparatus to select an article from an article supply magazine, and deliver the article to a predetermined location. Often such an article delivery process must be accomplished in timed relationship with other functions of the automated machinery. A specific example of this relates to packaging machines used for the selection, grouping and packaging of products, such as beverage containers, into a carton or carrier. In such devices, products, such as beverages bottles, are fed onto a conveyor which directs the bottles to various work stations of the packaging machine. The bottles are selected from an infeed area, grouped according to a desired number, configured as a group into a predetermined configuration and finally inserted into a bottle carrier, such as an open, paperboard carton. Prior to the step of inserting the bottles into the carton, partitions often are required to be inserted between the bottles, to assist in preventing breakage.
While in the past, some bottle carriers have included integrally mounted partitions, other types of carriers without integrally mounted partitions have required separate partitions to be inserted into the configured bottle group. Additionally, while some packaging machines may interrupt the forward movement of the bottle group through the machine to perform a step, such as the insertion of a partition, most automated packaging machines, such as continuous motion, high capacity devices, do not interrupt product flow. All tasks to be performed on or with the product must be performed while the product is moving through the machine, often at high rates of speed. Other uses for such article selection and delivery devices include those used to insert informational literature, coupons, or advertisements into a product container.
Regarding packaging machines, however, devices for inserting partitions into bottle groups are known. Such devices include a supply magazine into which the partitions are held, and an apparatus for selecting a single partition at a time from the magazine and delivering the partition to a preselected location within the bottle group at a specific point of time as the bottle group passes, usually below, the partition inserter.
A known partition selection and delivery apparatus includes a partition supply magazine which presents a group of stacked partitions from which single partitions are to be selected in order. A selection device is disposed adjacent to the front of the magazine, and includes a line of vacuum cups that are moved forwardly to engage the first partition in the magazine. The vacuum cups are biased forwardly to engage the lower portion of the first partition on the supply magazine. The vacuum applied by the vacuum cup releasably engages the partition to the vacuum cups. The vacuum cups are then biased away from the supply magazine, pulling a single partition from the magazine. A segmented wheel is rotated toward the partition so that the segment pushes the partition against a friction wheel. Together the segmented wheel and the friction wheel pull the partition to a location in preparation for the partition to be inserted into the bottle group.
One major drawback with this known arrangement using a segmented wheel is that the partition is pulled from its orientation in the supply magazine, then rotated or turned as it is pulled through the apparatus with the segmented wheel and the friction wheel. The partition is then again rotated so as to be vertically aligned in order to be inserted downwardly into the bottle group. This turning or twisting of the partition has proven to be undesirable for several reasons. Some paperboard materials can be deformed as they are twisted or turned in the apparatus. Further, partitions having score lines which define flaps or wings that are later turned outwardly before the partition's insertion into a bottle group do not work well in an apparatus that turns or twists the partition. In many of these cases, the flaps of the partition are prematurely opened or broken away from the body of the partition in its card form. These flaps can cause a jam in the system and interrupt product flow, causing down time.
In order to effectively handle partitions, especially those which include score lines for flaps or wings, it would be desirable to have a partition selection and delivery apparatus which would select a partition from the supply magazine without opening the flap, and orient the partition vertically throughout its path of travel to the selected location to further ensure against an opening of the flaps.
Another drawback with the previous partition selection and delivery apparatus is that it is limited to only one partition size. The previous apparatuses were rather inflexible in that they could not select partitions having different dimensions, such as widths. Because the selection and delivery apparatuses, and thus the packaging machines, were limited to just one type of partition, the packaging machines were also limited to just one type of product configuration.